MAY 26, 1941

WASHINGTON, Sunday—Friday afternoon a sudden shower with a high wind played havoc with the annual
party given by the Community Chest. All the agencies join in to educate their subscribers,
so that they will really appreciate the work that is being done. The tents blew down
and, had the public turned up in spite of the rain, there would have been little left
to see. But the children received their refreshments and tumbled about in the rain,
so the party for them was a success.

Mrs. Glover did not seem too depressed, for I think one of her main objectives in
giving her place for this annual "fiesta" is to see that the young folks have a good
time. I only stayed a very few minutes and then came back to have a few people join
me for dinner. Then I worked on the mail until the early hours of the morning.

Yesterday morning I rode for a short time, and then we had an almost international
luncheon. Madame Lily Rona, a Viennese sculptress, came to Washington and brought
the bust which she had made as a gift for me last winter of our son, Franklin, Jr.
I was glad to have the opportunity to thank her again and to place it where she would
approve of the lighting.

Mlle. Eve Curie was with us and Madame Aimee De Ramos Mejia from the Argentine. The
latter is a free lance feature writer, her principal paper being La Nacion. She is
gathering material and will eventually write a book about her travels throughout this
country. She hopes to interpret for her people, the Americans and the life she is
coming to understand. Later she will write a book interpreting the life of the Argentine
to us here in the United States.

Madame Mejia seems to like us and to find some things to praise. We all know that
it is easy to find shortcomings in any nation, but it is more constructive, perhaps,
to look for the virtues, as she is doing.

In the afternoon, I went to the Pan-American Building to see some Bolivian sculptures
by Marina Nunez del Prado. Most of her subjects are taken from the Indians of her country. She uses wood
and terra-cotta as mediums. I particularly liked two small heads, one of a boy and
one of a girl, but she has many groups which express motion in an extraordinary way
and I think everything she does shows strength.

We had a fairly large group at dinner and for the evening, since everyone who is leaving
for Arthurdale, W. Va., with me this morning had to arrive last night.

I noticed in the newspapers yesterday morning, that this is "Buy British Week." I
hope all of us who are able to do so will take advantage of the exhibitions in the
various shops and purchase some of the things which, in spite of their colossal defense
effort, the English are producing and selling over here.